


What Is Right Is Fair

by Meiloorun



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Other, Selwyn Tarth - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 09:44:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10160468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meiloorun/pseuds/Meiloorun
Summary: On his way to Dorne, the Kingslayer stops in Tarth to meet Lord Selwyn and bear news of his daughter.





	

**Author's Note:**

> There's a scene when Jaime's boat passes Tarth, and I couldn't resist writing up this little scene. Did some fact-checking and fixed some grammar errors. Enjoy!

The chambers of Evanfall Hall were warm with laughter and salty breeze. 

"What do we say to news of my Brienne, darlings? No news is good news!" 

Jaime was surprised to find that the court of Lord Selwyn Tarth retained a boisterous number of exotic women, each fairer than the last. Their twitters of laughter rang out above the droning roar of seafoam, and their perfumes mixed with the burning of redleaf and brine gave Jaime a fast headache. 

"I thought that as she is your daughter, you would pay an interest in her well being. Since she is your heir." 

"Heir? Gods, no! Brienne's not heir to anything but this white hair of mine. My brother, Seidern, has been vetted for the task, and after him, his son Sheamus will inherit my title. But this is known by the common folk. I don't like to interrupt my afternoon tea to discuss politics with gamblers. What can you tell me for free?" 

Jaime noted mildly that the servants carried plates of sliced pineapples and cured meats, and that there was not tea in their citrine glasses. The bystanders chewed and sipped with rabid inquiry. 

"You'll be relieved to know that Brienne is alive and well since the last time I saw her." 

Lord Selwyn's dull, expectant gaze bore into Jaime with not an unfamiliar sting. Seconds passed. 

"...Leaving King's Landing." 

The courts silence in deference to their lord was outstanding. The modest inner sanctum of Evanfall Hall held the tension of a fighting pit. 

"After I saved her life?" 

"...Is that it?" 

"Thanks are in order, I should hope." Jaime added wistfully. 

"Is that it? Someone get this lord a minstrel." The lord took a deep drink from his glass. "Some of the last news I heard was from a camp of western outlaws demanding her weight in sapphires. I suppose you have something to do with that miscommunication, Ser Jaime Lannister? Trying to pay off a debt?" 

Jaime shamefully felt his cheeks color. 

"I sent a counteroffer but the raven never returned. I trusted Brienne to finish them off with her honor fully intact. Did they give her a fair fight?"

"No, they put her in a bear pit with a tourney sword." 

"So that's why you had to save her? You felt for the bear?" Lord Selwyn proclaimed with grave sincerity. A beat later, the entire hall burst into laughter, the lord's heaving belly-laughs included. 

"Bright folks, you islanders are. Not like Northerners. Rather grey in the wits," Jaime pouted. 

"Are you any good at song? I know you Lannisters love to pay bards to spin your bloody tales." Lord Selwyn accosted a busty woman around the waist. "We'll have to write another verse my ladies! About my Brienne and the bear!"

"You know, she's done a great deal more than that..." It was no use. Jaime's voice was drowned out by voices raised into a melody reminiscent of a nursery rhyme.

"....That's what happens when you fall to Fair Brienne the Beauty~" 

"You gave her that nickname? And I thought my father was cruel..." Jaime trailed off, a sour turn taking over his courtly disposition. 

"Is that right? You slight your dead father and come to my court saying that I'm in your debt? In the middle of spirits?" the Lord questioned with a raised voice. 

"That's not-- She saved my life too--" 

"Then all is fair, Ser Lannister. What you expected are the deep pockets of a sorry father. What you have had is time of a lord. I don't have any more time for you." 

The lord took another deep drink from his chalice and strode out towards the throne's balcony overlooking the churning cobalt waters. Relentless, Jaime pushed through the happy throng of guests and followed him into the afternoon sunlight. As he crossed the polished granite floors onto the stone landing, a knight in a rose cloak accosted him from behind. Lord Selwyn gently waved the guard to release him and cast his gaze out to the sea.

"You still have more to say? You're not going to be paid for it. Or, have you already and this is some formality?" 

"I have business in Dorne. I could not pass by idly without saying something." 

"You're just as stubborn as her," he remarked at last with a touch of affection, such that Jaime's sudden anger lessened drastically and he lost his words. 

"Go on," the lord encouraged him. "You have something to say?" 

"Everyone says you're a good man, Lord Selwyn...To be frank, I'm quite disappointed. Even Brienne speaks highly of you." Jaime strained to remember exactly what she may have said, but he kept his earnest stance.

"You'll have to forgive me, Ser Lannister. Tarth is a long way from Casterly Rock, and Kings Landing may as well be across the Narrow Sea. This is my island, and what has kept it mine is the fact that I refuse to bargain with dangerous men." He scrunched his face in bewilderment. "From what I've heard, you had more discriminating tastes in women anyway." 

Jaime rebuffed the insult and pressed on, "Is it an act? Your disdain for her?"

"I am her father," Lord Selwyn replied with exasperation. "It is my duty by the Gods to judge her. However harsh that may seem to softer folk." 

Such words rang with the same intonations of Tywin Lanniser that Jaime's breath caught in his throat.

"This is her home," Jaime insisted. 

"Brienne has never belonged to this place, nor to any other. I have been a peaceful man since the rebellion, since I lost my king, my father, my armada, my wife, my son. I just wanted to live out my days drinking and fucking around, but that girl demanded all I had left to give. In paper, coin, and sweat. 

"She begged me to take her to Dorne to see the water gardens, to the Talons north of the Vale, and to the canal markets of the Fingers, to talk with friendly pirates, and meet the famous knights of Westeros, all before the age of five. And I abided her with maps and books and summer voyages, just to see her smile, even if it was an ugly smile. But then I let her in the armory-- and I turned a fool, I encouraged it. By now I'd wager she's upset every hedge knight from here to Hightower. No, I never intended for Brienne to rule anything. My only hope was to see that she survived the rule of others."

"Good then, that you've accepted some responsibility for an incredulous likeness to her father." Jaime paused to ensure that the slight sunk in. He knew little of House Tarth, but only in the fragments of his memories during the rebellion. It was on the dying words of his father, Lord Shawnessey Tarth, that the island burn his whole fleet of warships as tribute to King Robert to continue the peace. They lost all their forces, but suffered the least bloodshed. Only wise men choose to be cowards, and the Tarth bloodline was rich with Targaryan ancestors. 

"I think she could have made a proper heir, with some grooming, literally and figuratively. She's well-blooded, and a skilled fighter. With direction--" 

The lord interupted. 

"Our house words are 'What is Right is Fair.' Once, she was my wee daughter, my only responsibility when I had none-- not to a wife, not to an heir, not to King, just to my fallen house. We had no choice but to raise banners to King Robert. Thanks to you, Kingslayer," he spat out bitterly. 

"I taught her to defend herself against the likes of ursurpers and headhunters. I taught her to read and I taught her to listen. I tried teaching her how to sew and dance, but she was miserable, so instead I taught her how to maim a man and break a horse. These are things a man should never want to teach his daughter, but I needed to teach her something, because it was her right as my child. I never struck a blow that she didn't return with equal or greater force. I brought her up right so that I would not need to worry about what happens to her." 

"Now, she is a woman and a knight." He said with a little awe. "And that is worth far more to history than my birthright ever was."

"So what you mean, it's not because she is a woman that she is not an heir?" Jaime interjected with a questioning lilt. The lord shot him a well-worn grimace. 

"She won't sit at court, she won't be wed and she has no love for my subjects. We've never treated her like anything but a joke. It's all in good fun, but it does wear on my girl's nerves. She's too damn honorable to have the wits for politics."

"She means what she says. That's rare. You don't see a lot of that on the mainland either." 

"What are you proposing? I'm sorry to disappoint you--" 

"What? No, I--"

"--When my daughter turned sixteen, my gift to her was that she set her own terms of engagement, and she told me, 'Father, I will marry the man who can best me in combat, and none other.' Did you lose your hand, Ser Jaime, just to come to tell me that she has met her match?" 

Jaime bit his tongue. 'I traded it to a goat to save her maidenhead,' he wanted to say, but that was too much of the truth, and would make damning fodder for a song. 

"Must have been quite the challenge for a keen man like yourself. I daresay, I never thought in all my life, to meet the Kingslayer by the unholy graces of my daughter. She tried your blade, truely? More the other way around, I imagine." 

"Quite." Jaime admitted sullenly. 

"Tell me. Was it hard, losing to her?" 

Jaime paused to digest the question. 

"Trust me, I recognize that look of defeat." 

"I try not to view things from that perspective. Our single match was not fair--" 

"It's never a fair fight, is it? I mean," The lord interrupted with a chuckle, "Who likes to be proven wrong?"

"I know that I do not despise her for it."

Lord Selwyn gave Jaime a long, appraising glare. 

"Defeat is an acquired taste, to be sure." he returned his gaze to the sea. "In the future, should you feel the need to... foster the deeds of Lady Brienne to these waters...simply send a bird. No need to upset my guests and turn my wine. It's late now, but you'll want to sail soon to clear Ship Breaker Bay by nightfall. Quite the literal threat after dark."

"Thank you for your time, Lord Selwyn." 

"You're welcome, Ser Lannister. Now get the fuck off my island."

And Jaime was right to comply, eager, but sad to leave the fair, blue waters behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
